The concept of optimism is an increasingly foreign one within the Manchester United fanbase, and there certainly would not have been much expectation from supporters that Altay Bayindir might prove to be the solution to the club’s defensive problems.
After all, if Bayindir was truly ready to overtake André Onana as United’s primary goalkeeper, he would have done so long before now. Indeed, so pronounced have been Onana’s struggles that his ongoing selection has said just as much about Bayindir as it has about the Cameroon international.
In Sunday’s thrashing at Newcastle United, Bayindir effectively proved why Ruben Amorim – and Erik ten Hag before him – had remained so loyal to Onana, despite his numerous mistakes.